Pulsating sound generator



April 17, 1951 K. H. ODENWELLER ETAL PULSATING SOUND GENERATOR Filed April 25, 1946 INVENTORS KEITH H. ODENWELLER RAYMOND L.STEINBERGER ATTORNFv Patented Apr. 17, 1951 UNITED PULSATING SOUND GENERATOR Keith H. Odenweller, Winfield, Kans., and Raymond L. Steinberger, Alexandria, Va.

7 Claims.

(Granted under the act of March 3, 1883, as

' amended April 30, 1928; 370 O. G. 757) This invention relates to a mechanism for making noises, and more particularly to one for making underwater noises.

It may be desirable for various reasons to-produce an' underwater noise, in either sonic or supersonic range, and having a volume which varies rhythmically. Such a pulsating sound source may, for instance, be used to distract the attention of hostile vessels listening for noises from a submarine in order to. determine its location.

It is the object of this invention to provide a mechanical noisemaker which shall operate to produce a sound having a broad band of frequencies modulated in intensity.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a noisemaker which shall be of sturdy construction and which may readily be launched from a submarine while it is submerged.

These and other objects 'of the invention will become apparent from the following specification taken in connection with the accompanying drawmgs.

In accomplishing the objects of this invention thenoisemaker elements may be installed in a torpedo-shaped container designed for self-propulsion through water on a fixed course. The noisemaker may be actuated by an electric motor and a source of electric power contained within the torpedo-shaped container and is adapted to emit a tone of pulsating volume at intermittent periods during the motion of the device through the water.

Following this brief description of the invention, attention is invited to the drawings, in which Fig. 1 shows a general arrangement of the torpedo-shaped container and details of the noisemaker portion of the present'invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged longitudinal section of the inner portion cut away in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is 'a cross-section of the noisemaker arm taken alon the line 33 of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4 is an enlarged view of the noisemaker roller, showing the independent sections.

Attention is now invited particularly to Fig. l, which shows a torpedo-shaped container comprising a central portion 1 I, a forward portion l2, and an after portion 53. Within the central portion H is located the noisemaker roller, the forward portion I2 may contain an electric motor and source of electric power for revolving said roller, together with suitable gears for reducing the speed of rotation. A device for maintaining course stabilization might also be here located. Within the after portion 13 may be located an electric motor, suitable reduction gears, and

source of electric power for driving said con tainer through the water. Appended to saidafter portion might be fins of any known or other suit-: able form for preventing rotation of the container, a propeller, and a shroud ring.

Referring now more particularly to Fig. 2, in

which details of the construction of the noisemaker are shown, it is seen that the cylindrical main body H contains a pair of longitudinally spaced spiders I4 and I5 supporting a shaft 2|- which is driven by a motor contained within the body. Upon the shaft are mounted a pair of;

arms 22 and 23 keyed to the shaft forsupporting and causing the rotation of a corrugated roller 24. This roller comprises a plurality of disk sec-1 tions mounted axially with a loose fit along aroller-shaft 25- journaled in resilient bearings each comprising a metal-bearing bushing 26, a

bushing 21 of rubber or other resilient material, a thrust disc 28, a thrust disc spacer 29 made of rubber or other resilient material, and an outercup 30. The sections of the noise roller are similar to pinion gears having, for instance, 24 ordinary gear teeth, mounted in close proximity to one another, having a loose fit with the rollershaft and having their teeth or corrugations out of alignment with one another, as shown in Fig. 4, I

to rotate within the body portion or cylinder as the supporting arms are rotated relative thereto.

The shaft 21 is mounted slightly eccentric with respect to the barrel or body H, so that a me-' chanical modulation or pulsation of intensity or volume occurs, the sound being loudest when the roller is nearest the barrel. The multiplicity of rollers free to rotate independently with respect to the roller-shaft and therefore having teeth out of alignment with one another produces, instead of the sharp noise peaks sounding like gears-o]o-:

closure, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications thereof may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. It is to be understood, therefore, that no limitations are intended other than those imposed by the scope of the following claims.

The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government of the United States of America for governmental purposes without the payment of any royalties thereon or therefor.

What is claimed is:

1. A pulsating sound source, comprising a cylinder, a rollerv corrugated longitudinally, cu'shioned bearings for the roller and means for rotating said bearings eccentrical-ly with respect to the walls of the cylinder to cause said roller to roll against the inner surface of said cylinder with greater pressure on one side of the cylinder than on the other so that the outer portions of the corrugations of the roller strike against the cylinder to produce a pulsating sound.

2. A source of pulsating sound, comprising a cylinder, a shaft mounted inside the cylinder parallelto and slightly radially spaced from the axis of'the cylinder, ,means :for rotating said shaft,

- a roller corrugated'longitudinally, means for supportingvsaid roller on the shaft. parallel to the shaft and at a fixed radial distance'from said shaft to rotate said roller' with said shaft, and means for resiliently maintaining the roller in contact with'the cylinder, whereby the outer portions of the corrugations of thecorrugated roller strike against the cylinder to-produce a pulsating sound dueto-the slightradialspacing of the shaft from the cylinder axis. 7

3'. A source of pulsating sound, comprising a cylinder, a shaft mountediinside the cylinder and slightly off center with respect to the cylinder, means for rotating said shaft, a roller having .longitudinal corrugations, a plurality of arms supporting said roller and afiixed to saiddriving shaft'soas to lee-turned by said shaft, and means for resiliently maintaining the roller in contact with the cylinder, thus causing said roller to roll against the inside of said cylinder to produce a pulsating sound.

4. A mechanical source of pulsating sound,

comprising a cylinder, a shaft mounted inside the cylinder but slightly off center with respect to the cylinder, means forrotating said shaft, two arms extending radially from and rotating with said shaft, cushioned bearings supported by said arms, a corrugated roller having its axis journaled in said cushioned bearings to roll about the inside surface of said cylinder and produce a pulsating sound.

:5. A noisemaker adapted to be launched from a submarine. while. submerged, comprising a cylindrical body, forward and after spiders within said: body, a shaft-iournaled. in saidspiders and slightly off. center with respect to said body,

means interior to said body for rotating said shaft, arms interior to said body protruding from and revolving with said shaft, a roller shaft, a roller comprising a plurality of corrugated disk sections mounted axially with a loose fit along said roller shaft, said roller shaft having its ends journaled in cushioned bearings. in said arms whereby said roller is rolled against the interior surface of said body to produce a pulsating underwater sound.

6. A mechanical source of pulsating sound, comprising a cylinder, a shaft mounted inside the cylinder but slightly off center with respect to the cylinder,,means for rotating said shaft, two arms extending radially from and rotating with said shaft, cushioned bearings supported by said arms, a roller-shaft having its ends journaled in said cushioned bearings, a plurality of rollers having longitudinal corrugations and independently mounted axially on the roller-shaftadjacent to eachother to roll against the inner surface of the cylinder. to produce a pulsating sound" of composite frequencies- 7. A pulsating sound source, comprising a cylinder, a main shaft mounted inside the cylinder; parallel to and slightly radially spaced from the axis of the cylinder, means for rotatingv said: shaft, a roller-shaft, a. plurality of rollers having longitudinal corrugations; and mounted axially along said roller-shaft in close proximity to but independent of one another, means for supporting said roller-shaft on. the mainshaft and parallel thereto at a fixed radial distance. there; from to rotate said roller shaft therewith... and means resiliently maintaining; the rollers incontact with the inside of; the ,cylinder whereby the corrugations of the rollers; strike against the cylinder to produce a sound having a broad bandof frequencies due to the. plurality of rollers and having recurrent variations of intensity due to the slight radial spacing of the main. shaft from the cylinder axis.

KEITH H. 'ODENWELLER. RAYMOND L. STEINBERGER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent-1 UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name 7 Date 1,076,924 Thurmann Oct. 28, 1913 1,628,099 Arrowood ,May 10,. 1927 2,198,148 Baily ,2 Apr. 23, 19.40 2,204,472 Cagnot s June 11,1940 2,223,872 McWhorter et al. Dec..3, 19.40 2,353,360 Ronning ..'J.u1y 11,,19M. 2.395.852 Freeman ,et a1. 22."... Mar. 5,1946 

